MEHSTG has not
had much time to do a full preview, but the match opens a
lot of opportunities for Tottenham. None more than
scoring after 300+ minutes without a goal and I think that
they have the players to silence the home crowd and to close
down the Liverpool team to not allow them the space they
need to dominate.

With a range of
players who could provide difficulties for the Scousers'
defence, despite being without Lennon and Berbatov, I
believe that it will be a tighter game than in recent
meetings, with Jol being aware that he needs to pick up
points quickly to get back in the groove.

It might not
be the open and expansive Tottenham way we have played under
Jol, but it might just bring results ...

PREDICTION
: - Liverpool 1 Tottenham Hotspur
1

For more information on
the opponents and their history, including full result history of
matches between the two teams, click
here.

A three goal loss does not adequately reflect
the part that Tottenham played in this game, but it did highlight the
difference between where we are and where we want to be. Another
defeat to one of the regular top four shows the progress Spurs still
have to make.

The lack of involvement in the early stages by
Danny Murphy and Teemu Tainio let Liverpool deal easily with the Spurs
attacks. Tainio was hampered by a heavy tackle by Hyypia, which
the referee let him get away with with just a talking to. Murphy
was returning to the ground where he shot to prominence and after a
while started to get embroiled in the midfield mix, with some good
passing and movement. One move with Jenas and Defoe almost
provided the perfect pass for Keano inside Hyypia, but it was just too
far ahead of the Irishman.

Defoe almost seized on a rebound off a
Liverpool defender and Hyypia had to time his challenge right otherwise
he would have conceded a free-kick centrally in front of goal.
After treatment, Jermain was ready to continue.

With Jenas filling in on the outside on the
right of midfield, worked the line well, but his use of the ball was not
always that good. His crossing often hit the first man in front of
him and sometimes his choice of pass was not the best, but he made
himself available for the ball and worked back to tackle as Liverpool
broke forward. Tottenham's midfield worked hard and the expected
silencing of the crowd happened, as the Spurs supporters asked if
Liverpool needed a song singing for them.

Liverpool's first opening came after 12
minutes, when Ledley failed to clear his lines and Xabi Alonso, fresh
from his goal from his own half against Newcastle United, struck a
volley, but it bounced along the floor and Paul Robinson could only dive
late because of the possibility of a player in front of him getting a
touch on the ball. Luckily they didn't and the ball went past the
post.

Halfway through the half, John Arne Riise was
reduced to thrashing a free-kick wide as neither side found their rhythm
and the strikers were shackled by the defences. A couple of
moments later, it was a defender - Ledley King - who could (and should)
have opened the scoring, when he rose to meet Murphy's delightfully
flighted free-kick that found him in the clear, but he missed the ball
altogether and Jenas coming in behind him just failed to reach the ball
too. The former Newcastle man was well played in on the
right by Defoe on the half-hour and he hit s first time shot that was
designed to catch Reina out of position, but missed the target by some
distance.

Assou-Ekotto stopped Gerrard getting in a cross
at the expense of a corner, which was taken by Gonzalez and with
Chimbonda trying to clear the ball as it swung in, he only succeeded in
knocking the ball against his own post and Jenas headed away the
follow-up effort off the line. Gerrard was also involved in their
next attack, when his shot was blocked by King moving his arm to the
ball as he was standing outside the area, but referee Webb gave nothing.
Our Finnish midfielder popped up to volley Chimbonda's cleared cross
that had to be blocked by Agger in front of goal and when the play moved
to the other end, Robinson was called upon to make a fine save as
Bellamy broke into the box to hit a shot across the England Number One
just before the break.

With no changes at the interval, it was
Liverpool who picked up the pace of the game quicker after half-time.
When Riise flashed a shot too high, it signalled a spell of home
pressure, with Bellamy getting in the way of Kuyt, who was coming onto a
header and ended putting it over the bar.

Just after the hour, Jol introduced Davids to
replace Tainio, with his impact being immediate. He was set free
by Defoe on the left and ran to the line before cutting the ball back to
Jenas who was running into the six yard box, but as he stretched for the
ball, he was unable to get a decent contact on it and it ended up going
just wide of the open goal. As Spurs rued the miss, Liverpool got
on with the game and broke away, as Gerrard nipped past Assou-Ekotto on
their right wing and his cross found Bellamy at the far post. It
looked a goal all over, but the Welsh striker struck his close range
effort against the post, but luckily for the Reds, it fell into the path
of Mark Gonzalez, who fired low into the net. Sky told us it was
38 seconds between the miss and the goal and it left Tottenham looking
back at what could have been.

Didier Zokora had a very good game and his
surging run was only ended when Hyypia cynically brought him down 25
yards from goal. It appeared an unsavoury introduction into
the Merseysiders' game, which they don't need to adopt. Hyypia got
a yellow for his troubles, but the free-kick was wasted as Defoe blasted
it over the top. Spurs must learn to do something better with
set-pieces, as they seem to earn them, but can't finish them.

With 73 minutes on the clock, substitute Luis
Garcia dinked a little ball through to Dirk Kuyt, who was onside,
although the fallen Gerrard who was next to him was off, but the Dutch
striker hit the ball home to make it 2-0. At this stage, Spurs
looked deflated. Not that they gave up, but the way back was too
far beyond them.

That was emphasised in the final minute when
Riise moved forward with the ball and it took a while for anyone to come
out to challenge him, but when they did he let fly with more effect this
time and the ball rifled into the bottom corner of Robinson's goal
beyond his dive.

Many will look at Jenas' miss and say that was
the turning point in the game, but it was perhaps the miss that King
produced that was more so. A goal when Liverpool looked less
likely to score might have hit at the heart of their confidence.
As it was, they showed that they are a formidable side once they get
ahead. The trick is to get ahead before they do.

The
inches that separated Pascal Chimbonda from scoring an own
goal when he touched on a corner that hit his own post.

The
inches that Ledley was away from heading us into the lead
instead of completely missing the ball and the inches
Jermaine Jenas was away from sliding his shot from Edgar
Davids' pass into the net.

Then
seconds later we were behind when Bellamy missed an even
better chance than Jenas, hitting the post, but Gonzalez was
on hand to shoot home. Inches the other way and the
ball would have gone off for a goal-kick and all would have
been well.

When
Kuyt was inches onside after Assou-Ekotto stepped back to
play him on, he slammed the ball past Robinson.

Then
it was a question of feet, as Robinson failed to move his a
few one way and give himself a better view of Riise rocket
shot, instead of it coming from behind Dawson and leaving
him too much to do.

Three
incidents that went against us, but we had two before that
which could have established a lead that might have produced
a different outcome. It was not that Liverpool were
three goals better than us, just that they managed to
convert the three decent chances they made. I suppose
we should be pleased that we are making opportunities
against the top sides, but we need to stick them away to
make the approach play worth-while.

While
there are players who are not at the peak of their form at
the moment, they might not be too far off coming together to
do well. It is Martin Jol's task to get the peak
performances out of them.

BARRY
LEVINGTON

I'm absolutely
devastated. There is no way Spurs should've lost this game.

After an early spell
of pressure, Spurs settled down and played some really good stuff but
just fell short in the final third, largely down to the woeful passing
of Mr Invisible himself, Jermaine Jenas. Through no fault of Keane
or Defoe, the lack of service meant that our two little men were getting
snuffed out with ease, constantly having to drift wide to pick up
possession, as our supposed wide-men, Tainio and Jenas, weren't getting
the job done.

It was at times
both joyous and difficult to watch, as Spurs played circles around
Liverpool but with no end product. One such pleasantry was the
performance of Danny Murphy, back on his old stomping ground, spraying
the passes around and breaking up attacks. The former Crewe
playmaker worked well in tandem with the formidable Zokora, who relished
his battle with Sissoko, so young Huddlestone will have to wait a while
longer for his chance on this evidence.

I'm not so sure
about Tainio, who just doesn't look comfortable wide left and stands
little chance of playing in the middle. He works hard but we need
more than what he's giving, mainly some genuine width and wing-play,
which could come from Ziegler. One man that should definitely sit
out a few games is Jenas, as one good showing against a two-bit European
side doesn't warrant continual selection, especially after his showing
today. Not good enough. I felt that he was already having a
bad game before that appalling second-half miss that led directly to the
opener for Liverpool.

Why is Jenas in
the side ? Nine times out of ten he does bugger all and his
continual inclusion sends out a bad message to fringe players like
O'Hara, Yeates, Ziegler, Huddlestone, McKenna, and Dawkins, that no
matter what they do, how hard they work their asses off for the
reserves, they're not getting a look in.

It's not good.
Sure, King should've put us ahead before Jenas' howler, but then again
our star defender more than made up for his first-half miss with yet
another commanding defensive performance, in which our back four looked
great until just after the hour. It soon became apparent that the
weak-link of our new-look defence is Assou-Ekotto, a player that is
capable, but also lacks concentration powers and lets his head drop when
things go against him, and that's what occurred today. The
Cameroonian played a part in all three goals, none more so than the
second, when Kuyt could've been called offside but for a sleepwalking
BA-E. The third was avoidable and anyone could be blamed for it,
but BA-E was one of the nearest players that could've closed down Riise.

Still, the game
was already over by then. After going in 0-0 at the interval,
Spurs took their foot off the pedal, while Liverpool most definitely
pushed theirs down even harder and it paid off big time. Spurs had
their moments in that period, the Jenas one being the clearest, but we
couldn't
match the work-rate of Liverpool.

Murphy came off
to a rapturous applause from both sets of fans, fully deserved, as he
produced some exquisite touches throughout, not to mention the most
effective work from midfield. Liverpool just couldn't get the ball
off him and I think he deserves a run in the side now, injuries not
withstanding. It's a damn shame that Berbatov is out for a further
two weeks because the attack is seriously not happening. The two
little-uns didn't work together today and Mido is struggling to get
going, so chances are going begging. I'm not about to call on Lee
Barnard just yet, but something has to change, as we're drawing instead
of winning, and losing instead of drawing.

I recognise that
Jol has tried to make changes but maybe it's not enough. Jol must
know who's at fault, who's underperforming and who's just plain taking
the proverbial. It is those that must be made an example of,
either to give them a short, sharp shock to get them back up to an
acceptable level, or to dump them in the stiffs until January when they
can be sent packing altogether. Despite his part in the Jenas
chance, Davids was consistent in his rubbishness, losing the ball
regularly and going AWOL for the three goals. He should be dumped
altogether, put on gardening leave, as we don't want the reserves'
progress to be stunted by the Pitbull's presence. O'Hara should
take his place on the bench. Jenas must now take his place on the
bench, because he's taken the mickey for too long and we're running out
of time to find the right balance.

What MJ could do
is toy with the formation, perhaps use wing-backs until Lennon comes
back. I'd prefer to see him pack the midfield, using one up front,
away from home at least. Either way,
it'd mean a recall for Huddlestone, who could be a key player this
season if given a run.

To sum up, Spurs
played really well today against a top class side and should have got
something but, due to errors, came away with nothing. I'm gutted 'cos
I know we were that damn good, we could've won. If Spurs continue
to play as they did in the first half but add some goals, the wins will
outweigh the losses.

S J
WIGHTMAN

JJ's miss was absolutely
disgraceful, but it masked another workmanlike huffing and puffing.

No
chances on target, and our manager says "We deserved
something from the game".

According to Jol on the club website
the Fulham 0-0 was a good result ? And the wearisome
excuse of European travel was also wheeled out.

Huddlestone and Zokora looked effective in Prague, but Tom
has disappeared since ?

Who
will score the goals from our midfield ? When will
Dawson or King, actually put a header away ? Is
Defoe on an eternal sulk ?

Am i a
lone voice here ? THFC needs stability, but if we
fail to score against Pompey then questions will begin to
be asked re: Jol's job ?